A young mother-of-2 from suburban Chicago was reading her Bible to her child at bedtime. She was hit in the head with a stray shot, according to police.
The incident occurred last Saturday at 9pm in Zion, Illinois’ 2800 block of Enoch Avenue. Zion is about 50 miles northeast Chicago.
Lam Calderon stated that her daughter, Melanie Yates, 23, and her husband Daniel were getting their daughters ready for bed at their separate homes when a loud bang rang near their home.
Calderon claimed her son-inlaw called Yates and asked her if Yates heard any loud fireworks. She did not respond.
Melanie Yates, 23, was shot in the head as she read a story from the Bible before reading it to her daughter (pictured with her husband in her arms) before going to bed at their Zion, Illinois home on Saturday.
A half-dozen shots were heard near the Yates’ family home in the 2800 block of Enoch Avenue in Zion, Illinois
Police stated that they don’t believe Yates was the intended victim of the shooting
“He looked for her, and he found her shot in head,” said the victim’s mom to ABC 7 Chicago.
Yates was taken to the hospital after paramedics arrived on the scene.
Meanwhile, her husband took Yates’ two children to Yates and explained what had just happened.
“He came in and told me that our daughter was shot. We didn’t believe him,” Calderon said. Calderon described it as “just unfathomable.”
Yates was pronounced dead at Vista East Hospital on Monday morning after she was taken off life support.
Police in Zion stated that Yates was not the intended target of the shooting.
Nearby residents reported hearing several shots fired in the area. Fox 32 reported that investigators discovered six shell casings close to the Yates family’s residence.
The Lake County Major Crime Task Force assists the local police with the investigation.
After hearing loud fireworks, Yates’ husband Daniel found Yates shot in the head in the room of their youngest daughter.
Yates, a mother-of-two (pictured left and her eldest child, as well as an ultrasound image of her baby), was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Monday was her last day on life support.
Yates was a registered nursing nurse before she became a stay at-home mom.
No arrests were made as of Friday morning.
Shawn Calderon was Yates’ father. He said that while finding the shooter who shot Yates will not bring her back but it will provide closure for the family.
Yates’ mother Lam Claderon said that when Yates’ son-in-law told them what had happened, she initially couldn’t believe it
Yates’ brother launched a GoFundMe campaign for financial assistance. He wrote: “Everyone who knew Lanie knew that she loved Jesus Christ with all her heart. There is no doubt that she is in heaven right now. But, we miss her very deeply here on earth.
“We miss her passionate, strong prayers. We miss her infectious laugh. We miss her beautiful singing voice, which lifted songs of worship. We miss her funny, witty humor. We miss her determination to be a godly mother and wife. We will miss her. And we wish with every fiber of our being she was here, but we know she’s in a better place.’
Yates is survived her parents, three siblings and her husband of five year, Evelyn and Lydia Yates. Yates’ family said that she had planned to continue her career as a registered nursing nurse in the hopes of having three to five children.
‘The girls aren’t going to know their mom anymore,’ Lam Calderon said of her two granddaughters. ‘They’re just going to have a memory.’
Yates hoped to have three to five more children, possibly with Daniel.